Last Friday evening I was at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, the famous club for singer-songwriters. Four men - two with guitars, two in front of keyboards - sat facing each other in the middle of the room, and took turns presenting their music. Food and drinks were served to the audience, but no one talked during a song.
It was a bit like a reading at a book fair, when authors on a panel read excerpts from their books, or poets read their poems. The men at the Bluebird were more versatile than writers, being able to write songs, play instruments, and sing. But spreading their talents around so freely seemed to distract them from the writing; it is astonishing what cliches you can get away with when you accompany them with a guitar.
There are other advantages to being a songwriter. The odds of having a hit are probably just as great as those of netting a bestseller, but composing a song takes a lot less time than writing a book. And once they become hits, songs, unlike books, are in the atmosphere, unavoidable. You have to go out and buy Infinite Jest, but you can hear - many of us have - "Achy Breaky Heart" without meaning to.
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